News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-10-06
DEAD OR ALIVE.
BY LUKE SHARP.

BY LUKE SHARP.
AT St. LaZarc Station. Paris, the Ions
tidal train stood ready to start fol-
Dieppc. | wanted to get compartment
TO myself, after the selfish manner Of
many travellers, and | waited till the
hands of the clock pointed to ten min
uteS past seven, at which time the
train was to leave There were only
first and second class carriages on tie
train. 1t was through express and We
were timed to reach London shortly after
i've IN the evening. At the last mo-
ment L opened the door of the only va
cant compartment in the train, flung
IN my valiSe and following closed the
door behind me. The shrill whistle OIL
the guard announced that the time
was up. At that moment a mar
rushed past the window of the
compartment and, seeing only one octL-
pant, turned back, twisted the handle
OF the door and jumped in. Before hi
could close the door a second belated
traveller sprang on the foot board and
came in to the paItnent. The ira L
was moving ont of the dark station, and
the guard with his kew had locked US
IN. was in ill-humor at having nv selfish
purpose thwarted, and so sat gloom Il
and silent in the corner. The first man
in settled himself down to sleep, and the
reXt one took out book and began tc
read. In this unsociable state we sped
through France and reached Dieppe q
little before II o'clock. We had a fail
passage over to Newhaven. About 8 sc
the London train was waiting for us al
that station. By singular coincidenc,
the very same thing that happened at
Paris occurred on the London train.
had got myself comfortably seated, when
Just as the train started IN jumped the
tlrst passenger and after him the second.
Both laughed as they came tumbling in
and took their seats beside me-
''Parley YOU Fransay2" said the first
pas enger 10 me.
Not parley, +" l answered.
'0h, you are an Englishman," con-
tlnued the other. II took you for a
blooming Frenchman
Il am neither booming Englishman
nor blooming Frenchman: am a
blooming American.
How long have you been over in
Paris?''
''Two weeks"
Same time myself l say, didn'tyoa
get sick and tired of Paris2 | did,
yes l don't like Paris as well as
London"
mo more do 1. get tired of their
maudlin cookery. Don't you?"
eyes, l do"
''Give me the good old roast beef of
old Eng and, say 1. l ate this putterin'
about with little bit of this and little
bit of that, like living on sweets"
quite agreed with him. All this time
the passenger who had come in second
on each occasion said nothing. We were
bowling along at a good pace, much
faster than the French train, toward
London.
''Did you have any adventures in
NO, can't say that had
'Well, 1 had, and blooming un=
pleasant one, too"
Eyes? What was that, if it is not a
secret?"
''Well, you see it was like this. had
been doing bit of walking that dav and
was dead tired. l sat down on one of
them benches in the Twilleries gardens.
sat there for about ten minutes. when a
bioomln' Frenchman comes up, takes off
his hat very polite and says: Pardon,
Messieur, and lets go a lot of his lingo
at me. l only knows one word If
French and that is 'oui. so saws TO the
chap 'oui, Oui, oui, and he was VERY
polite about it and he sits down beside
me and says: Perhaps. Monsieur. vou
speak de Ainglis better dan de language
FRANCHISE / says: Rather He saws: :
4 spake de Ainglis Language a leet'e.
have Won CRATE invention dat wish t.
pataint in Aing!and, and with that he
takes out of his pocket little machine
with nozzle and little bulb at the
bottom. He squeezes the bulb and it
shoots out lot of spray. 'Oh, rot, says
/, Il have seen hundreds of thing like
that. 'Ah, no, he says to me. 1 have
some great improvement on dis. You
see you put in delicious perfume.
have patent on dat 1t is delicious,
it is deefrant.' And with that he pushes
the machine in my face 1t was the
sweetest swelling thing | ever smelt, but
with the frs: puff of it all the trees and
things seemed to run together l didn
get unconscious. but just seemed dazed.
L don't remember what happened, but |
mind that the Frenchman took me by
the arm like this" Here our louuacious
fellow traveller took the silent passenger
and myself by the arm and we started
up IN the COMPARTMENT ''And he said
something about promenade. We walked
together like this for short time and
then sat down. He took out his machine
and gave me another squirt in the face,
and then l went to sleep sure enough
One of their bloomin' John D'Arms
woke me up and then found that my
watch and purse and everything else was
gone. 1t was lucky | met chap from
London who lent me money enough to
get home. What do you think of that,
eh!n
The silent passenger now spoke for the
first time.
II think 1t VERY remarkable story"
he said, "a VERY remarkable story. But
can tell you something what will sur
prise you more than that, which is that
at this present moment have in my coat
pocket a cooked revolver that's GOVERN
of your heart, Joey, and if you make a
move you are a dead man. My instruc-
tloEs, Joey, is to deliver you at London
dead or alive, dead or dIire, joey. were
the very words, and what's more they
were written and you will find them in
that pOcketbOOk which you VERY clever
ly took out of my pocket when you were
telling OF your VERY remarkable story,
joey
joey turned perceptibiy paier round
the corners of the lips as the silent pas
seBger TOOK out of his coat pocket the re-
yolvcr, still keeping it pointed at Joey's
breast.
whats wanted this time and who are
your muttercd Joey.
What's wanted, Joey! Fourteen
years, | reckon; fourteen years if it's a
day. And who am II That's who |
am, and he turned down his coat lapel,
never for moment letting his pistol
waver from its position, and showed in
side OF his coat the brass badge of the
London Metropolitan Police Force. Joey
drew a long sigh
well, " he said, $50 it's all up
Yes, joey, it's all up. You can
make row or you can go quietly, Just
as you like. 1t makes no difference to
me; dead or alive, them's the instruc.
lions. Have you any fire arms aboard.
Joey?'
Not even a blooming knife" said the
thief III Il tone of disgust. Had the
worst sort of luck in Paris. Had to
pawn the finest pistol ever had, to get
money for this blooming trip, 'ang it
all
Il have been following of you, joey,
for the last three weeks wrackin' NV
brains thinking how l could get YOU